MAEC, the Etruscan Academy Museum

Explore the history of Cortona at this museum

Cortona

Piazza Luca Signorelli, 9

This museum - also called Maec - includes also the Etruscan and Roman Museum. It is housed within Palazzo Casali, one of the oldest and most notable buildings of the town, where you can see some of the most extraordinary masterpieces produced by the Etruscan civilisation.

On the upper floors of the museum there are the older collections of the Etruscan Academy that trace back the history of Etruscology, featuring masterpieces like an exceptional Etruscan Lamp, a golden buckle with the shape of a crouched panther, the Musa Polimnia and an Egiptian funeral boat that goes back to 2000 bc.

On the lower floors, in the newer exhibiting spaces, the visitors are guided through the history of the Etruscan and Roman settlements in the territory: the bronze masterpieces from Trestina and Fabrecce, the funerary equipment from the archaic burial mounds in the Cortona plains, the celebrated Tabula Cortonensis and the materials from the Roman villa in Ossaia and much more.

Maec Museum

The new Etruscan Academy Museum of the City of Cortona also acts as a reception and information point for visitors of the city’s Archaeological Park and its 11 archaeological sites, including the second Tumulus (burial mound) of Sodo, an imposing archaic burial (6th century B.C.) featuring a monumental stairway decorated with large sculptural groups.

Don't forget to see the Tabula Cortonensis, the third etruscan text in the world as regards length.

Both the museum and the archaeological park will make your stay in Cortona memorable and rich in history and culture.

The beautiful city of Cortona lies in the mountains between the Valdichiana and Tevere valley. Cortona was a very important center of Etruscan civilization, and these ancient settlements remain at the core of the city’s identity. Two kilometers of the Etruscan walls, which date to the 5th century BCE, are still standing today. ...